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@classicsmistake

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Emily 💕 - PhD student making the ancient world fun, one Classics mistake at a time 🏛️🏺

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Introducing Emily 🏺🏛️💕

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In ‘The Oresteia’, Aeschylus gives us the origin story of Western justice. When Athena establishes the legal system that still shapes courts today, she doesn’t banish the Furies, the terrifying goddesses of vengeance. She gives them sanctuary at the Areopagus rock instead. Her reasoning is that justice cannot exist without fear of the Furies, because they embody guilt, and without guilt, humans are capable of almost anything.

As Athena puts it: “For who among mortals, that fears nothing, is just?”

The Furies’ sanctuary was called the Semnai Theai, meaning “the Venerable Goddesses”. Athena renamed the Furies, reframing the goddesses of vengeance into goddesses to be venerated, because we owe our justice, peace and safety to them. Imagine a world without guilt. That’s scarier.

Could this be it? The Areopagus rock mostly has a fence around it, so I couldn’t get close enough to confirm this was it, but it’s said there’s a cave within the rock itself, the sanctuary of the Furies.

In other words, the curse is, ironically, not the villain or threat to civilised society. The real curse is the absence of guilt in the people the curse goes after: they are more concerning than the curse itself.
@classicsmistake @julietteharrisson @hannah_and_her_press
#Athena #Areopagus #Oresteia #GreekMythology #KohINoor

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The wonderful “Treasure: Hidden, Lost, Found” exhibition is on display at the Great North Museum: Hancock, our on-campus museum. 🏛️

One of our PhD students, Emily (@classicsmistake), went to take a look!

The exhibition also features a 9th century gold object found by archaeology student Yara Souza. Yara found the artefact during an excavation with Newcastle University at Redesdale, Northumberland in 2025.

Has anyone visited the exhibition yet? We would love to hear your thoughts!

Open until 20th September. Free entry.

#newcastle #greatnorthmuseum #treasure #archaeology #museum

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Happy International Museum Day 2026 🎉

This year, International Museum Day is celebrating the theme “Museums Uniting a Divided World” to explore how a museum can bring people together across time and place.

We are fortunate to have multiple incredible museums here in Newcastle which offer fantastic opportunities to students studying with us.

Today, Emily, a PhD student studying Classics, is going to tell you all about her brilliant mini exhibition which is currently on display at the Great North Museum: Hancock.

#InternationalMuseumDay #IMD2026 #ancientgreece #greekmyth #newcastle

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The other month I recorded two pieces for @classicsmistake new series called ‘Classics Adventures’

It was great to use some of my old recording equipment again and to figure out the best way to record the guitar 🎸 (without background static 🫠)

Anyway, make sure you go and check out the @classicsmistake Instagram page and YouTube channel now to keep up with the myths and reality of the ancient world!

#recording #guitarist #music #classicsmistake #ancientworld

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Q1 🏔️🫗🦪

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